What do you do in your leisure time?

Superman

EDIT: This post as been updated with more links to Smallville ComicCon coverage. (6.12.16)

A couple guys in my town put a lot of work into convincing people Hutchinson, Kansas, should be considered Smallville, the earth hometown of Clark Kent. They based it on everything that could be gleaned about the town from the comics, movies, and TV shows, and the equivalents Hutch has. Some are a little dubious. We also have an grand old movie theater like The Talon from The CW series “Smallville,” but fortunately it hosts a variety of live shows and movies both large and small, and nobody has turned it into a coffee shop with an out-of-place Egyptian theme. But some are more interesting, like one comic where Superman flies along the Arkansas River (which is real) over a town called Hopefield (which is not, but Mount Hope sure is).

Four years ago they succeeded, and the mayor signed a proclamation declaring Hutchinson Smallville for a day. The following years, it’s been two days that coincide with Smallville ComicCon, which debuted here in 2014 and is back this weekend.

Guests at this year’s event includes Helen Slater, who’s left her mark on a variety of Super-products (read more here), actress Leslie Ann Brandt (Spartacus, The Librarians) and voice-over actor Derek Stephen Prince (Kill La Kill, Power Rangers, Kingdom Hearts). There are also a host of things to see and do, from a 10-foot-tall Lego Clark Kent to panels, cosplay contests and, of course, vendors.

My newspaper, The Hutchinson News (which, full disclosure, I work at), goes all out for this event. Here’s the cover of our paper today.

I’ll update this post with more links to stories as I have time, but if you want to get the early scoop, hop over hutchnews.com and poke around. I think you get five free clicks a month before hitting a (not unreasonable) pay wall.

Welcome to 2015! You know what that means: In addition to a whole new year of stuff, it’s time for the annual series of Media in Review posts. Let’s start by taking a look at the paltry number of books I read last year. Sadly, there are only two.

I live in Hutchinson, Kan., and there’s a group making the case that Hutch should claim itself as Smallville, the town where Clark Kent/Superman grew up. There’s a Facebook page, too. I just think that’s fun, and not at all because I’m two and half seasons into a Smallville rewatch. There are some interesting similarities regarding population and, when you start comparing it to the CW series, football wins. And we’re close to Wichita, a “metropolis.” (Not that we can see it’s skyline by climbing up on a giant windmill though, Lana.)

Some of the claims are a little more dubious. “We have an old theater, like The Talon!” Yes, yes we do. But as far as I know, it’s not also a coffee shop with bizarre Egyptian decor finger-painted all over the place. (At least, I hope not. I should go to The Fox one day.)

The guys who started this have some big plans, including trying to get Man of Steel to be shown here first. They’re also making a comic that apparently will be shippable at some point — or available locally on Third Thursdays, a monthly downtown gathering of residents and businesses for some sort of event-like thing that I’ll probably never be able to attend because I work Thursday nights. I need to get on that “winning the lottery” thing.

As a Kansan who’s never minded all the Wizard of Oz jokes that come my way, I’m down with growing the number of Superman puns, if it means I can say I live in Fake Smallville. And even though I don’t particularly like comics as a story delivery method (yet, I’m down with the stories and the art/design. Go figure…), I’ll probably try to get some of these.

And if you’re interested in my Smallville Season One review, check out this post from Ye Olde Leisure Time